The Caldwell Quantum Tarot Phenomena:

The Colony Ship Longo Drum was assigned to work on fringe scientific theories. After the Chatterers were proven to have low-level psi abilities (with some impressive exceptions), a lot of time and effort was put into researching such things.

No one was more enthusiastic than Dr. Rosalyn Caldwell, who started working with Chatterers and tarot cards. Even the other researchers on the Longo Drum refused to believe Dr. Caldwell's assurances that she had found a way to predict the future-- until she was able to replicate her successful experiments an impressive 68% of the time, sometimes with truly incredible results. Indeed, she took the credit for predicting that the Longo Drum would be rediscovered by a passing spaceship in less than six months. Four months after she started claiming this, it happened.

Further researchers since the rediscovery of the Longo Drum have continued to refuse to believe that Caldwell is-- as such-- predicting the future. Rather, they believe that her tarot work with Chatterers is influencing the future, based on some sort of collective unconscious of those with psi abilities involving quantum physics.

Each of the four tarot suits has a particular meaning in various contexts, as do the numbers of the minor arcana and the major arcana.

At first, the Caldwell tarot system only seemed to work for Chatterers who had been specially trained from infancy. Now, however, it often seems to work for anyone who tries it who has any level of psi ability, although usually, the more natural ability one has, the better.



Duranium:

     Duranium is a new element. So far, the only known locations to find it are the oceans of Europa and the asteroid belt of Mahalzhan. It possesses several unique properties. First, it is dense. So dense that normal scans cannot penetrate its atomic structure. Second: it is clear once smelted. Third, it is nearly completely heat resistant. It can only be smelted and forged in "sonic kilns." Though much remains unkno0wn of the material, it is highly valued for constructing ship hulls as its heat resistance makes the switch from atmospheric flight to out space infinitely smoother. It is also used by several security forces for construction of weapons and armor, but only for elites. The element cannot be forged commercially but must be smelted and shaped by hand using sonic kilns and sonic forges. The only weakness of this material is its sensitivity to sound in fact. At certain high decibel ranges it begins to soften. At extremely low decibel ranges it begins to draw in heat from its environment, which can prove dangerous to those wearing it as armor if exposed for too long. A curious note about the element: the Astani and a certain type of Europan eel have a natural talent for locating the material similar to how earth pigs can detect truffles.



Rest and Relaxation:

In the endless and boundless universe, their lay a small cardboard box floating in space, it's labeled Rest and Relaxation. Any that find the box and looked inside will find a mini dimension where robots run a relaxing spa resort, a place where you'll have an unforgettable time.

This device was made by one person forgotten to the test of time as a practical joke. He made the dimension device to look like a cardboard box just so he could throw hundreds of indestructible cardboard boxes across the entire universe. The resort was said to be a myth perpetuated by a madman's prank, but to those lucky enough to find it will find that it is the best place to relax, and when the day is over and participants leave, they find that no time has passed from their time at the resort and also the box disappears, teleported to a new location to find those lucky few to find it.

Will you be that lucky, explorer?



The Words:

There is no such thing as faster than light travel. That runs up against Einstein's limits. Neither do wormholes provide shortcuts, instead, they disassemble matter into fundamental particles. No the only way to beat Einstein's limits is to travel with a practitioner of The Words.

When ships manoeuvre into dimensions other than the third, travel was unpredictable with only five percent reaching their destinations within a Parsec, within two Parsecs it was only one percent with a vanishingly small chance over further distances. Then one ship began to buck that trend, arriving safely over further and further distances. Eventually it was discovered that chanting certain Ancient Sumerian spells and prayers with specific rhythms, provides control throughout ten dimensional space.  Thus were the Words born.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:08, Wed 27 July 2022.